Electrohydrodynamic excimer laser: Ultra-compact system and laser energy performance dynamics

Excimer lasers, essential deep ultraviolet gas light sources, have consistently encountered significant challenges in achieving miniaturization while maintaining high performance. These challenges have limited their broader application and development in complex scenarios. Here, we present a novel ultra-compact excimer laser design based on electrohydrodynamic principles and develop an efficient non-invasive flow velocimetry technique to quantify its medium circulation capabilities. This excimer laser achieves remarkable compactness (130 mm diameter × 300 mm length) with a medium flow velocity of 1.27 m/s, effectively overcoming deployment limitations in complex environments. Notably, we observe a unique explosive transition phenomenon involving pulse energy and stability in this electrohydrodynamic excimer laser. Through high-dimensional XeCl reaction network dynamics analysis, we demonstrate that these transition characteristics originate from threshold-driven photon flux bursts, thereby revealing, for the first time, the microscopic mechanisms behind macroscopic laser energy fluctuations. In addition, we develop an interpretable machine learning framework to accurately predict energy explosive transition in ultra-compact excimer lasers, facilitating effective laser system regulation and optimization. This pioneering study carries substantial implications for both promoting the development of excimer lasers and deepening the understanding of their underlying mechanisms.